Nationals @ Cubs: Roark vs Arrieta (NLDS Game 4)

Arrieta left his last start early (Sept. 26 in St. Louis) with a strained hamstring. Let’s hope it holds up. He went 3 innings and gave up 3 runs and was tagged with the loss.

He went 14-10 with a 3.53 for the season, including going 5-2 with a 2.90 at Wrigley. In 7 post-season starts, Arrieta has a 3.64 ERA.

Jake gave up 5 ER in 4 innings and lost to the Nationals in DC in June. Overall, they are 32-134 (.239) against him. Rendon is 4-11; Murphy is 5-17. Lind and Werth have taken him deep.

Roark last pitched an inning of relief (Oct. 1) against the Pirates, in which he gave up 2 ER. He gave up 6 ER in 4.2 innings in Philly, for the loss. For the season, he went 13-11 with a 4.67. On the road, he went 7-5 with a 4.26.

He beat the Cubs at Wrigley in June (6.1 IP, 2 ER, 4 K, 3 BB). For their careers, they are 17-79 (.215) against him. Bryant is 5-11 with a HR.

What a fucken scam. If they start the game at the normal day game time at Wrigley, 1:15, then they beat the rain no problem. But no, TBS, a fucken cable channel that NOBODY watches, gets to dictate the start time. And now the Nats get the advantage of pitching Strasburg on normal rest for game 4. Nice!

My jerk friends want to take me out to dinner to celebrate my 40th... right at the start of the Cubs game. The jerks!. :)

In an absolute perfect world, this game gets delayed until maybe 9 central, and then the Cubs win. In a next-to-perfect world, the game gets cancelled, but Dusty Baker decides to pitch Roark tomorrow anyway, and we win tomorrow.

Have to figure out when i need to arrive at my lucky sports bar, WS game 7, Dodger clincher last year, Friday and Monday of this series. I believe I am playoff undefeated at this place. Pure science.
PS: i may be starting a Go Fund Me to cover my bar tab.

So with the game postponed, should the Cubs go with Hendricks tomorrow? Couldn’t hurt to let Arrieta’s hammy get another day of rest. And if the Cubs can win this series without him, then he would be really well rested for the NLCS.

Well, at least this way we get to use Strop and Davis tomorrow, who are really the only guys I'm comfortable with coming out of the pen. So unless Strasberg gets well and starts, I'm feeling pretty good about it.
That is, of course, unless he comes out of the pen in the 4th to protect a 2 run lead till the 8th. That would really suck.
So I think the easiest thing to do would be to score about 6 runs in the bottom of the 1st, before Dusty has time to warm anybody up.

So, I asked my boss, "Can I leave a little early for the Cubs game this afternoon?" He said, with a grin, "As a salaried employee you are expected to to put in the work when needed. When things come up, you are a professional and we don't monitor that."
Hopefully I can play that card tomorrow since I stayed today (and kept checking Jesse Roger's tweets for postponement).
Wondering if there is any "momentum" lost - knowing that they have to face Stras again?

This postponement really favors the Dodgers who don’t need any help as it is a already. Now the game 4 starters won’t be ready to go till game 3 of the NLCS. So I think it’s become even more important for the Cubs to clinch in game 4. Would be nice to have both Hendricks and Lester fresh for games 1 and 2 if they advance...

Speaking of canoes, I'm tired of seeing Michael Bradley paddling around midfield like a boy in a bathtub. Maybe we've seen him for the last time.
The USMNT should follow the Cubs' example and clean house and go young. Way too many of these mediocre veterans play in the league of last resort, MLS.

Actually, we lost the last America's Cup event this summer to New Zealand. The event was held in Bermuda. Each win counted as a single point, 7 points were needed to win. NZ started at -1 for some reason and still outpointed Team Oracle by a 7-1 margin. The races I watched were not even close. Next event will be held in southern summer of 2021 off NZ somewhere.
They use foiling catamarans (AC45) with a wing for a sail that can run at 40 knots. Impressive to watch.

For a short time today, on Wikipedia, the owner, gm, and president of the Washington Nationals was listed as Anthony Rizzo. I hit refresh and it changed back to Mike Rizzo. I wish I would have gotten a screenshot.

crunch, I got a bird's eye view from my seats in the Outfield Boxes Section 403 (the next section is a fire station), and the ball got to its highest point and you could just see the wind stop it and guide it down into the glove.

with trea turner + schwarb playing i decided to revisit that 2014 draft.
i was hoping the cubs would snag aaron nola (best college pitcher not named carlos rodon), but it's hard to argue about snagging the best college power bat.
1st overall pick braidy aiken threw 132ip 134h 101bb 89k (yes, 101bb) in A ball. ow.
2nd overall pick tyler kolek (MIA) missed all of 2016 with TJ surgery he had in april 2016, but he didn't make it back til august 2017 where he totally crapped himself with a line of 3.2ip 4h 14bb 1k (yes, 14bb) in 5 appearances (4 starts) in rookie ball. ow.
heavily cubs-linked alex jackson (6th overall) put up a "meh" season of .267/.328/.480 split between A+/AA, but he did it as a 21 year old playing a bit over his head.

Well, with Addy's error, Cubs have "blinked" first. Hopefully the guys can pick Addy up like they did for Schwarber a couple days ago. Could see Lackey possibly getting an appearance today given Jake's high early pitch count.

Every time a Cub struck out, the board said "88 mph changeup." It was brutal. Ya gotta give the guy credit. And it also seemed that every time the bleacherites chanted "Stras-burg...Stras-burg" he kicked it up a notch.

I presume you refer to the g**** s*** by the eighth-place hitter on a night in which several guys hit drives that would be out of the park on a neutral evening. The ballpark was silent, as everybody there "knew" the wind would knock it down. Happ went up, and when he didn't come down with the ball, there was a brief ballpark-wide WTF moment. Even the scoreboard hesitated. The guy next to me said, "You know, the wind died down for a few seconds just as that happened." I leave you all to your metaphysical/theological/existential reflection on that...

I remain amazingly calm. Not that I think the Cubs will win the series, but that I just don't care nearly as much so soon after last year.
Bummer that the rain really changed the dynamic of the series though.

Especially if the Cubs lose tomorrow, there will be a zillion chin-puller essays (FanGraphs, go!) about Cub fans and the difference made after 2016. I have been a Cub fan for 52 years, so I need say no more. The championship was a miracle, a dispersal of demons, the elimination of a curse. So now what? I think, just speaking for myself, that I will remain a fanatical Cub fan, but what happens in the postseason won't be the kind of apocalyptic event that a failure in Game Seven in 2016 would have been. I still will acknowledge the magnitude of what has happened--Dear Lord, I have attended Cubs postseason games for three years--in a row!--but there will, for me, always be the detachment brought about by the fact that THEY WON THE WORLD SERIES!

I concur with my man Krausened. The era of consistent playoffs is -- incredibly! -- here. No matter what happens tonight, it has been a great three-year run, and most of the group will be back for several more years. Knocking out the Brewers and Cardinals at the end of the season was awesome. I am obviously hoping the season continues after tonight, but, if not, I will at peace with it. At least, eventually. Plus, there's no crying in baseball.

I know I'm commenting more tonight than I have in all my years on TCR, but I was there and I'm working through the experience. (And just took my winter jacket out of the drier. Thank heaven for years of freezing at Wrigley.) I also know that this is completely a First World Problem, but I hate the way the TV networks jerk around the people who buy tickets for the Division Series. It's clear that we are literally window dressing for their broadcasts.

I was just about to say...Theo's primary job this off-season is to get the 8th inning eliminated next year.
Kind of like a lot of high-rise elevators have no 13th floor. Get it done, Theo.
In 4 games, Cubs have given up 9 runs in the 8th inning and 3 in all other innings combined. Not like we weren't aware of the issue, but, yikes.

I've posted this before, but this is why the Cubs got Justin Wilson. He was supposed to be the reliable 8th inning guy who can close when Wade Davis isn't available, and then be the Cubs closer in 2018 after Davis is gone.

It's become clear to me that while Edwards may have the stuff to be a future closer, he doesn't have whatever that "thing" is that can't be measured by sabermetrics that separates great stuff from being a great closer. You could just see him get rattled and his control disappear.

I agree that Edwards seems perceptibly rattled at times. Not sure if you are saying he's not closer material right now or he's not the type of person to become a great closer, but I would point out that at Edwards's age, Davis was putting up mediocre numbers as a starting pitcher. I'm still hoping Edwards can grow into more confidence and consistency as he gets more experience.

You're right, its too early to say and I'm probably overreacting with recency bias. Maybe he can grow into it, hopefully, but the Cubs shouldn't go into next year counting on that growth. Initial indications are that he's not a natural ice in the veins type of dude.

What I think I see with Edwards is he's fine as long as he's good. I'm trying to remember him getting in trouble and then getting out of trouble. It must have happened over his 70 or so appearances, but it seems once he gets in trouble he stays in trouble.

For those of you that weren't there tonight, you should know that there were times that drizzle "sheets" descended upon Wrigley. Very difficult playing conditions. I was hoping that they could keep it to one run, but fuck, pro hitter Murphy keeps their inning alive. I wanted Lester to finish the inning and didn't get my wish. But 12 Stras Ks, I don't know if they had much of a chance with that shit. Too bad for Addy, bad E-6.

You're right, E, that it was nasty. Maybe Addy's error was partly due to a wet ball, though he did kind of circle it; anyway, it was a boot. And you're also right that Strasburg's performance-- in spite of mold--would have been hard to overcome.

Could be worse -- we could be Indians fans.
Brutal exit 2 years in a row -- up 3-1 in the WS last year, and lose 3 straight, including Games 6 and 7 at home. Up 2-0 in the ALDS this year, and lose 3 straight, including Game 5 at home.
Ouch.

Recent comments

A's have decided to not be horrible and to pay their minor leaguers through the end of the season (august)

"“I changed my mind after spending a lot of time talking to our team,” A's owner John Fisher told the Chronicle. “I concluded I’d made a mistake. I’ve listened to our fans and others, and there is no question that this is the right thing to do. We clearly got this decision wrong. These players represent our future and we will immediately begin paying our minor-league players. I take responsibility and I’m making it right.""

I'm in. What more do we need, really. A beer. A game or two. The 162 game season can wait until next year (I hope). Have fun with a micro-mini season. Let the powers fight over the labor agreements. They can finish by next spring, right?

IN BRIEF (Tribune, from their mini-sports section): In a letter, MLB rejects players’ plan for 114 gamesNews servicesMajor League Baseball rejected the players’ proposal for a 114-game schedule in the pandemic-delayed season with no additional salary cuts, telling the union that teams have no reason to think 82 games is possible and now will discuss even fewer.Players made their proposal Sunday, five days after management’s initial economic plan.

I agree. Laura is the real deal. I think she was the major influence that showed Tom R. and Crane Kenney how to show a "human side" and deal realistically and in a non-threatening way, with the local Chicago politicians. Kenney was clearly clueless in his initial attempts regarding the neighborhood, the Rooftop owners, and the Wrigley Field rebuild.